


Side-Effects of Rebirth

by RavenShira



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff and Crack, Gen, Hatake Kakashi-centric, Humor, KakashiWeek2018, Oblivious Hatake Kakashi, Pakkun POV, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Trolling, if dogs could fly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 10:50:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15928907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenShira/pseuds/RavenShira
Summary: A story in which Kakashi and his Ninken died in the Pain-attack on the village.Kakashi comes back confused.His Ninken come backveryconfused.Or: Coming back to life can change one's perspective? Kakashi is honestly not sure what to do with this.





	Side-Effects of Rebirth

Pain's attack was a widespread devastation. So many fought, desperately, as their village was turned into a wreckage in mere minutes.

 

It was a warm summer day with a light breeze and a brightly shining sun, when Kakashi summoned his Ninken in a last, desperate bid to get the valuable information to someone who would know what to do with it.

 

It was a good death to save a comrade, Kakashi mused as the last of his energy left him. His eyes latched onto the vast, blue sky, admiring the peaceful view instead of the devastation surrounding him. Kakashi closed his eyes, sun stoking his cheeks and finally breathed his last.

 

Pakkun and his pack were left behind, howls coming from them as they felt a bond rip that had been there for most of their lives. They made sure Choji delivered his message. Then they went and attacked, defended and died for the same purpose that their summoner had given his life for. Loyal to the last.

 

He hadn't expected to come back. Death, in his experiance, was final. He had learned that lesson painfully, over and over again. Yet here he was, dragged backwards after his talk with his father and blinking his eyes open to the sunlight high above him. The sun was on the zenith and Kakashi was understandably confused. A look around showed several other shinobi slowly getting to their feet, patting down their bodies in obvious wonder. Kakashi looked down at his own, battered state, then limped over towards his whining Ninken, stroking each of them in search of any injuries that might have lingered. Since they looked as exhausted as Kakashi felt, he released them to recover in their own territory.

 

There was an immeasureable relief in him that none of his dogs had permanently died or been injured beyond help. He wasn't sure how well he would have handled that. Dying was stressful enough on its own.

 

Things in the village slowly turned back to normal. Kakashi went out of his way to avoid the tedious clean-up missions, or if he was stuck with them he made sure to accompany Tenzo. His little kouhai was so easy to rile as he used the Mokuton to create houses. It was definitely more fun than shifting through the rubble on his own as the sun mercilessly burned down on them. Clean water was rationed until they could repair their system.

 

It wasn't until he summoned Pakkun to deliver a message for him that he realized something fundamentally had changed after all.

 

“I'll fly over there real quick, Kakashi. I'll be back in a moment.” Pakkun said, turning his back and slowly trotting towards the edge of the building they were currently stood on. Kakashi nodded, then froze.

 

“Flying?” he muttered to himself, then turned around quickly and nearly had a heart attack when he saw Pakkun leap off the edge in a way that wouldn't get him anywhere but down to the street in a sixty foot free-fall. Kakashi's hands flew through the hand-signs of a shunshin with unparalleled speed, arriving in the street just in time to catch Pakkun before he splattered onto the pavement.

 

Harsh pants came from Kakashi's mouth as he clutched Pakkun tight to his chest, despite the pugs whining.

 

“What the hell was that, Pakkun?!” Kakashi hoarsly asked, still shaken from the near-miss.

 

“Kakashi! You are holding to tight, you will break my delicate bones!”

 

Delicate bones?!

 

“I didn't ask you to jump to your death!” Kakashi _almost_ yelled. Almost. He grabbed Pakkun by the ruff of his neck and raised him up to his face so they could see eye to eye.

 

“Oh, please.” Pakkun scoffed “I took the wrong updraft okay? Nothing would have happened.”

 

Updraft?!

  
  
“I... what?” Kakashi blinked in bemusement. Somehow, he thought, they were having two separate conversations because the words out of Pakkuns mouth didn't make much sense.

 

“I was just about to spread my wings and fly.” Pakkun grumbled in explanation. “It was a good nosedive that you rudely pulled me out of.”

 

Wings? Fly???

 

Kakashi stared blankly at the dog in his grip, trying to somehow connect the words that came from his partner with reality. He simply couldn't manage to connect those two.

 

“Pakkun.” Kakashi said carefully, apprehension lining his words. “You don't _have_ wings.”

 

“Sure I do.” Pakkun stated as if it was a matter of fact. It very nearly made Kakashi check just to affirm nothing was growing out of his little pug's back.

 

“You don't.” Kakashi repeated firmly instead.

 

“Yes, I do.” Pakkun stubbornly insisted.

 

“No.” He was already getting tired of this.

 

“Yes.” Pakkun glared back.

 

There were few things that left Kakashi speechless, but... he honestly didn't know how to respond to this.

 

ଘ(੭• ᵕ •)੭

 

The problem, Kakashi noted with a little bit of hysteric desperation, wasn't only limited to Pakkun. After the near disaster, Kakashi had abused his power to summon a fellow ANBU to deliver his message, then quickly returned to his home without letting go of Pakkun even once. Who knew what other silly notions were stuck in that little pea-brain?

 

Kakashi stared at his pack. One who actually was whistling in the most off-key way Kakashi had ever heard of. And every. Single. One. Of. Them. Was trying to drive him insane. 

 

“I don't know what your problem is.” Buru grumbled, as if everything was fine and dandy when his dogs suddenly thought they were birds. Kakashi was ready to rip his hair out.

 

“You are dogs!” He insisted, trying to stay patient. Each of his dogs gave him a concerned look, as if he was the one that needed to get his head checked for malfunctions.

 

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

“Alright. You stay here. Don't... don't leave, alright?” he stated loudly over the whistling. Another dog started to tune in with his own off-key melody.

 

Kakashi backed out of the room slowly, closing the door to the madness and staring at the wood for several moments. This was what madness must feel like.

 

Deciding to rather be on the safe side, he used his key to lock the door. It wouldn't really keep his ninken in, if they really wanted to get out but it might deter them. And he really, honestly, didn't want any dogs outside when they thought they could fly.

 

He made a quick trip to one of the only open stores to get what he needed. It was made up of stuff that had been scavenged from the rubbles. His apartment was completely devoid of anything but the bare necessities. Most of the things he now owned had been acquired by bullying Tenzo into making them. What he needed was something else and once he got it in the store, he quickly made his way back to his apartment. It was time to end this silly argument.

 

Even in front of the door he could hear the whistling and had to admire Guruko's endurance. He didn't even know dogs _could_ whistle before today.

 

Opening the apartment, Kakashi did a quick headcount and sighed in relief when every single ninken was still where they were supposed to be.

 

“Alright guys. Gather around.” He told them, putting the heavy object he had just carried here down so that he was standing half behind it, keeping it upright. Once his ninken were situated in a half-circle in front of him, Kakashi ripped of the covering.

  
“Tadaa~!” Kakashi deadpanned, holding on to the full-body mirror so it wouldn't fall over and break.

 

“Look at your beautiful dog-selves.”

 

Pakkun took an interested step closer, critically watching his own reflection. Kakashi stared down at his little pug, daring him to contradict him.

 

The small dog let out a flattered sigh.

 

“What a handsome bird.”

 

Kakashi felt a vein throb. He put a hand to his brow and rubbed it, trying to staunch off the headache that was slowly developing. The whistling didn't exactly help.

 

“I give up.”

 

ଘ(੭• ᵕ •)੭

 

Despite Kakashi's capitulation to the pack's madness, there were still things Kakashi simply couldn't ignore. His ninken going on a hunger-strike was one of those things.

 

“What's wrong with your food?!” Kakashi asked in exasperation “It's the same you always eat!”

  
  
Pakkun sat in front of the bowl, scoffing down at the very fresh meat that Kakashi usually hunted for himself, since he didn't want his ninken to have sub-par nutrition.

 

“I can't eat that.” Pakkun whined pitifully. “Is... was that a bird? Did you kill a bird, Kakashi?”

 

Kakashi stopped and stared at the meat.

 

“No?”

 

Quite honestly, he hadn't really thought about what kind of meat he put in the bowls. It wasn't the first time he had bought a chicken to feed his ninken, but it was the first time he had tried to do so since their... transition into birds. He could admit that it might be offending. If they were actually birds and not dogs.

 

With a sigh he mutinously stared at the meat. Throwing it away seemed a waste. It was perfectly fine, fresh meat after all. Kakashi didn't like waste, especially not in the aftermath of the attack and their already stretched supplies.

 

“Can't you make an exception?” Kakashi begged. Pakkun looked at the meat, then back at Kakashi.

 

“I don't eat meat.”

 

"Pakkun. Dogs need meat.” Kakashi couldn't help but try to explain that to his ninken, silently thinking that he really shouldn't need to explain basic survival of dogly needs. There was a tired sort of resignation creeping up on him. “You can't survive on grain."

 

"Watch me."

 

Kakashi slowly turned his eyes to the ceiling. Of course. Of. Fucking. Course.

 

“... what do you eat instead?” Kakashi already dreaded the answer.

 

“Oh. Grains, nuts, worms, you know? The usual.”

 

Right.

 

Right.

 

He could...

 

…

 

His mind was blank. Closing his eyes, Kakashi took a deep breath. Damn it, but he wouldn't let his ninken starve. He wouldn't.

 

Three days to find a solution then.

 

Kakashi clenched his hands into fists and shunshined away. He arrived in the spot of the library, mostly destroyed but people were working on rescuing the precious scrolls before the first rain hit.

If Kakashi offered to help them sort the fuinjutsu scrolls... well. He was helping, right?

ଘ(੭• ᵕ •)੭

 

The following days had Kakashi repeatedly going to help with the restoration of the library, always surrounding himself with scrolls on fuinjutsu. When he finally got home in between, for lunch or dinner, he tried to entice his ninken into eating at least something.

 

"You... please just eat your treats?" He held out his hands, watching as they sniffed almost eagerly, yet turned their heads away in silent refusal.

 

"You can't make me.” Shiba whined, curling up on the ground in misery. “What does a human know about birds?!"

 

Feeling stressed out by his dogs not eating as they should – basic care that had been instilled in him since he first made a contract with them – making the resolve to stay patient snap.

 

"You are a dog!"

 

"I should know what I am better than you do!" Shiba yowled. Kakashi left the treats in a bowl. He sagged in relief when he came home and found them gone, yet it wasn't a solution. Treats were not meant to be a healthy diet for a dog and should only ever be used as a supplement.

 

ଘ(੭• ᵕ •)੭

 

It took a bit of fiddling but he finally managed to make the fuinjutsu work. Painstakingly he had carved the seal into each and every single bowl of his ninken. It would require him to charge the seal every time he fed them, but it was worth it. His fingers were a little sore from the delicate work, but he was satisfied with the result.

 

Pakkun eyed the bowl in stunned silence. Then he turned to Kakashi, a question in his eyes.

 

“Kakashi?”  
  
“Go on.” Kakashi encouraged. It had been two days since he had fed his ninken and it just... it didn't sit right with him.

 

Pakkun stared at the bowl, nose twitching. He carefully inched closer, staring at the grains that seemed to fill the bowl, then looked back at Kakashi in disbelief.

 

It had taken a lot of work and Kakashi was simply glad that Minato had once insisted on teaching him the basics of fuinjutsu. But Kakashi had managed to make a seal that made things appear and smell like something else. In this case it was meat that looked like grain and smelled like grain. Just the taste was something Kakashi had been unable to change, and he really hoped that Pakkun's taste buds would ignore it.

 

Pakkun turned back to the bowl and carefully stuck a tongue into the grain. He froze, then started to munch happily, still giving Kakashi weird looks.

 

Kakashi was simply too relieved to see him eat to bother asking what was wrong now.

 

ଘ(੭• ᵕ •)੭

 

The food incident made Kakashi pause. It had been an issue that he had not been prepared for, and now that it happened once he started to obsess about the situation. It became startling clear that he had little to no knowledge about birds in general. To remediate that hurdle, Kakashi went to a bookstore and bought every book about birds he could find.

 

If his ninken thought they were birds, he would need to ensure their continued happiness.

The first step was to arm himself with knowledge, the second was to reassimilate their surroundings. Birds liked to sit on high perches. Kakashi could do that. He bullied Tenzo to come over and make some shelves high up. The one for Buru was the biggest challenge, but Kakashi was determined. His ninken deserved the best care and Kakashi might be lazy, but he wouldn't skimp on the wellfare of his dogs.

 

His ninken had paused when they looked at the dog beds on high shelves, but after a few looks exchanged between them they had adapted pretty quickly to their new...

 

What was it called for birds?

  
  
Roosts. Nests. Something like that. He would have to get used to calling his pack a swarm too.

 

What he wouldn't do to keep his pack happy.

 

ଘ(੭• ᵕ •)੭

 

It was months later that he got pulled into a mission he dreaded more than any other.

 

He was supposed to show his summoning technique to the Genin. So far he had managed to keep his newest issue with his dogs quiet, but he supposed that could only last for so long.

 

“This is the summoning technique.” Kakashi explained to the slack-faced Genins, watching him in wonder. His hands went – slowly for the sake of showing the proper hand-signs – though the motions before slamming his right on the ground. In a puff of smoke his ninken appeared and Kakashi stood back up again, dusting his hands off in satisfaction.

 

“This is my cute swam of birds.” he happily announced proudly, eye-smiling at the bewildered looks he got. It actually was kind of funny, so long as his ninken stopped trying to fly.

 

Someone in the far back whispered loudly.

 

“... aren't... that dogs?”

 

Kakashi critically observed as the Genins approached his ninken cautiously. He saw Pakkun near the trees and noticed a flash of eye-catching yellow mixed with eye-burning orange next to him. Naruto then.

 

Knowing Naruto would keep Pakkun save, Kakashi turned back to the rest of his ninken, keeping watch so that none of them suddenly disappeared to jump off of some random rooftop.

 

ଘ(੭• ᵕ •)੭

  
Pakkun watched his silly summoner fondly from the edge of the courtyard. He wasn't comfortable with so many grubby-fingered little monsters trying to pet his soft paws, so staying far out of reach worked for him.

 

“Yo, Pakkun! Why did Kakashi introduce you as birds?” Pakkun glanced to the side and saw Kakashi's pup Naruto crouch next to him.

 

“He has been acting weird for months now.”

 

Shifting a little guiltily, Pakkun glanced back to Kakashi to see him still busy with the rest of the pack.

 

"It was supposed to be a prank.” Pakkun grumbled. “It was fun, and it distracted him from going to the destroyed cemetery or memorial. He wouldn't have dealt with that very well, so we thought we would keep him busy until it's repaired.” Pakkun glanced back to Naruto, hunching and curling up a bit into himself “ I mean, it was a silly prank. We only agreed to pretend to be birds... but we actually convinced him we are birds and now we don't really know how to break it to him that we are dogs..." Pakkun thought about the little bowls and the meat that looked different, smelled different but still was meat of the highest quality a dog could wish for. Thought about Kakashi rearranging his whole apartment just to suit their apparent new needs, the books about birds that now lined the shelves with sticky notes inside them.

 

All of it showed how much Kakashi cared about them, no matter what they were or pretended to be, and they hadn't been able to break the truth to him after the determination Kakashi had shown to make them happy no matter what.

 

Naruto stared at the little pug, thought about the dilemma they had quite literally put themselves in, and broke down laughing.

 

**Author's Note:**

> .... this was not supposed to be written. You have [ohayohimawari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohayohimawari/pseuds/ohayohimawari) to thank for, as she dumped the idea in search for help and then abandoned the sinking ship.
> 
> You abandoned me.
> 
> Mine now.
> 
> (I might add some pictures later when I'm not tired and have the motivation to do that... not beta'd either as I'm already a day late in posting this for the kakashi week 2018 prompt)


End file.
